Chapter One Hundred ay-Four - Chaos and Anarchy and Other Sorts of Fun

  “You... you rapscallion!” I said, with one arm raised so that I could point right at Golden Rogers. “You mean, no-good pirate.”

  Golden Rogers blihen he had the temerity to actually smile and look to his crew. “Did you hear that? The miss thinks that I’m a no-good pirate.”

  “That’s exactly what you are,” I said. “You’re the worst kind of pirate there is. I bet all you do is go around and steal things.”

  “That is generally what a pirate does, little bun.”

  “No, no it’s not. Pirates are meant to be free! They’re meant to go where no one’s gone before just because they , and they’re meant to put their names in the history books for being grand adventurers. You’re just a petty, no-good mean... person that kidnapped my best friend. I... I really want to do mean things to you.”

  Golden Rhed, though I had the impression that at least a couple of his crewmates felt a little bad.

  That probably wouldn’t be enough.

  I was about to demand that he surrender Awen back to us when the door behind him smmed open and a wide-eyed Awen stumbled out and into the middle of the Rroup, soon followed by two dishevelled pirates.

  One of them immediately tried to grab her, but Awen pnted a boot on his foot and rammed her elbow full-forto his chest.

  Golden Rrunted in displeasure and grabbed Awen by the hair.

  She screamed as he dragged her forwards a ways and held her up, calloused fiangling with blond locks. He grabbed one of her arms and ya back behind her. Her free hand scrambled at the hand grabbing her hair to no avail. “Let her go!” I screamed.

  Awen started and looked up. “Broccoli?” she asked.

  “Let her go,” Amaryllis said. “You’ve already incurred the wrath of the Albatross family, and I’ve no doubt the Bristlees will fail to appreciate the way you’re handling their s.”

  Rogers scoffed. “The Bristlees? Those filth?” He shook Awen and she winced. “Do you have any idea how much I loathe them? Abraham Bristlee e a ship and half a year of my life in some backwater penal camp. This girl? She’s going to be my payback for all the trouble that bastard gave me.”

  “Awen never did anything to you,” I said. “If you want to fight with Abraham, then go ahead. At least he’s someone your size.”

  “Oh, shut up,” Rogers bit out. “You fet the harpy. You guys, get the sylph. And someooss the bun’s head over the rails. She’s no one important.”

  “Bastard!” Awen yelled.

  Her hand came up, and as everyone looked, a wicked kerialized in her hand with a crackle like gss being stepped on.

  It swung down with all of Awen’s desperate force, and even Golden Roger’s attempt to duck the blow didn’t stop her from pnting the bde to the hilt in his thigh. Then the hilt shattered, leaving only a timeter of jagged gss poking out of his leg.

  He grunted, letting go of Awen to grasp at the wound.

  Awen nded on her khen shot up to her feet and started running towards me. One of the pirates tried to grab her, but a thunder crack sliced the air and he went flying back with a howl.

  “This way!” Bastion yelled.

  Awen crashed into me, huggiight and close. “I-I I thought... awa!”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “But we o go.”

  Bastion waved at something over the side of the ship, and it didn’t take a genius to figure that the Manatee was there waiting for us. Still, I couldn’t jump to it without seeing it, so I pulled Awen along with me towards the edge even as the ship started to bump and lurch.

  “I destroyed the engines,” Awen said. “The ship’s going down.”

  I ughed. “Awesome work!” I said as I reached the rails.

  The Manatee was some three dozeers away. Far enough down that I was sure I could make the jump. I wasn’t sure about Awen though.

  “Do you know how to swim?” I asked her.

  “Awa? I mean, no. I’m from a desert, Broccoli.”

  “Right.” No throwing her into the sea to pick her up. Not that that was really an option to begin with. “We’re going to jump together,” I said as I grabbed onto the rigging. Awen swallowed, but pulled herself up with a simir rope and came to stand on the rails o me.

  Amaryllis ran past us and vaulted the rail. “Move!” she said.

  Bastion backed up he rail. He was holding off a few of them all on his own. “Jump!”

  I nodded, bent my knees, grabbed Awen, then jumped.

  Awen screamed, even as I held her close, but the noise of it was drowned out by the passing wind.

  And then something ed around my foot and yanked me back.

  I had just a moment to react, a fra of a sed to put two and two together.

  I threw Awen ahead and towards the Manatee.

  The rope around my aurned my jump into a swing, and I found myself rushing towards the ship. It was only pure luck that had me twisting around enough to hit the side of the Golden Grove’s Revenge with my untied foot. The bang made my teeth rattle, and hanging upside down wasn’t the best for my sense of dire.

  Looking up, I followed the cord to the rails above, where a couple of pirates were leering down at me. Bastion was already in the air, flying towards the Manatee.

  At least my friends were safe?

  They started tugging me up.

  I couldn’t cut the rope. Not with o go but spt into the sea far below. And I couldn’t allow them to pull me all the either. They were already seeing way too much leg for my liking.

  Aug, and I was suddenly much closer to one of the portholes on the side of the ship.

  I grinned.

  Three fireballs appeared in my hand and I aimed down my body and up the ship towards the pirates looking over the edge.

  They ducked as the balls of fire zipped past them and spped into the balloon above.

  I groaned and focused against the blood rushing to my head.

  The salvo had one fireball hit the rope, singing it a little and lighting it on fire. Perfect! I tugged down, grabbing the edge of the porthole and pulling closer to it until I was able to punch the window open.

  When the rope finally snapped, I almost flew off, but a lur the ship helped me grab the edge of the window and I mao slip my head and arms in. My back still bent awkwardly--and painfully--over the rim, but I was in.

  In... a ? I scrambled to the floor o a small cot and used a tio break my fall a little. The was cramped, with barely any room to move. But that was just fine for me. It gave me a spot to rest for just a moment and catch my breath.

  I was in a bit of a predit. I couldly hide forever, and the ship’s stant lurg hihat Awen had done a great job sabotaging it. The pirate ship going down was good. The ship going down with me in it was decidedly not.

  Looking around, I tried to find something to use as a on. “Sword, no. Musket? No.” I muttered as I looked around. “Ah!” Sitting on the er of the desk was a heavy iron dle holder. It had a big blunt bottom and a long stem. Perfect.

  With a small pause to rub the ache out of my back a bit, I opehe door and poked my head out into ay corridor.

  The Golden Grove’s Revenge looked like a ship with three decks or so. I retty sure I was otom-most. Uhe keel space ted as a deck? I o brush up on nautical terminology.

  I bent my ears back for extra stealthiness, and started tip-toeing along the corridor, dleholder in hand.

  The ship rocked under me, swaying violently to one side and throwing me against a wall.

  I realized too te that I wasn’t bumping into a wall, but a door.

  It smmed open and I tumbled inte, low-ceilinged room filled with hammocks and five very fused pirates.

  They looked at me.

  I looked at them.

  “She’s one of them that attacked us!” one of them shouted.

  I ducked back out of the door, but not before flinging a couple of fireballs across the room. Otered against an oil-mp o the hammocks, breaking the gss and spshing burning oil all over the hanging beds around it.

  I didn’t have time for caution, so I darted down the corridor, and when I arrived at a staircase at the end I ran up three steps at a time. The deck above was sorta split down the middle. Part of it was filled with cargo. Crates and boxes and barrels all ly stacked and held in pce by s. The other half artially walled off, with a rge engine in its middle that was being fussed over by a pair of very distressed young men.

  “It’s still heating up!”

  “What do you mean it’s still heating up? We’re nearly out of t!”

  “The t’s pissing all over the floor... wait, there’s gss in it.”

  “Gss?”

  “Like, sandy gss bits? The radiator’s a mess.”

  “We o flush it.”

  “We’ll o flush the fuel too. Wait.. the fuel line’s been cut. Right here.”

  “That’s nht... if it was cut, then why isn’t it leaking?”

  “Look, it liced in here. That’s... that’s the oil reservoir.”

  “No wo’s running hot. We o cut this out and drain both the oil and the fuel, and the radiator too, food measure.”

  “’t do that while the engine’s running, and if it stops running we’re going to be taking a swim.”

  I licked my lips and cleared my throat for attention. Obviously Awen had done a number on what looked like the ship’s gravity ehe two meics were twisting and turning over the mae, only toug it gingerly on at of all the heat ing off of it. And it was a lot of heat, there was even a haze in the air around the mae.

  “Um, sorry to interrupt,” I said. “But does this ship have lifeboats?”

  The two men looked over to me.

  “Who’s that?”

  “Never saw her. I’d know if there was a bun on the crew.”

  “She a pirate?”

  “ pirates be pirated?”

  “I don’t think it’s time for semantics.”

  I waved at them to calm down. “I just want to know if we’re going to crash or something,” I said.

  They looked at each other. “Probably not.”

  “We’re good. As long as the balloon holds its air, there’s no danger.”

  The balloon that I had poked some fming holes into. I was about to ask if that would have an impa the ship staying in the air, but the rumble of feet rushing up the stairs behi off my pns to talk. “Okay, thanks and bye!” I said as I shot past them. I only paused to kick allon drum with ‘oil’ printed on its side.

  The meics screamed and started rushing around to up the mess before it reached the engine.

  The far end of the room had aairwell, this oopped at the floor up, but I didn’t pause to look around and just bolted up to the topdeck.

  It was chaos. A team of sailors were pg patches against the balloon, others were repairing some of the ropes we’d cut in our little scuffle across the deck.

  In the middle of it all, Golden Rogers stood tall and proud, barking orders and pointing this way and that to direct his men. “Why aren’t those sails out yet? Divert more power t. Make sure you don’t lose sight of them. We’re going to run down that little skiff of theirs if it’s the st thing we do.”

  I turhis way and that, looking for a pce to hide. Maybe I could join my friends if they mao catch up to them? But then we'll have to deal with this ship again. Maybe I could steal a lifeboat and sabotage the ship some more? That would maybe allow us to get away, and I could rejoin my friends in Needleford. Assuming I could navigate my way over.

  I just had to keep the shore to my left.

  Feet thumping behind me had me diving for cover behind some boxes. I needed a moment to pn.

  And then someone rude grabbed my ears and dragged me up. “If yoing to hide, bun, then don’t leave your filthy ears poking out above cover!”

  I was in a spot of trouble.

  ***

  RavensDagger